APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR NOW!

There is no defense for following orders when it comes to Torture!

And even though the current Administration should be aggressively investigating and probably getting prepared to prosecute a myriad of individuals, I did take the time to compose a letter to President Obama explaining why he needs to ACT!

I am not a legal scholar, but after reading only parts of all the released information, it is clear that they started looking for ways around the Geneva Conventions as early as Nov 15, 2001. The ultimate blow was the Military Commission Act of 2006 – which in and of itself was an outrage….but then they pulled the ultimate Hat Trick and said that this Act was RETROACTIVE to 1997.

The individuals who wrote and approved all of these shenanigans may not end up in prison, but they certainly need to be visibly investigated and asked to defend their actions under the very bright lights of Public Scrutiny, otherwise we as a country have proved that we have NO Moral Authority to argue that others abuse Human Rights.

Just today, a joker, Michael L. Gross supported Bush et.al. using his philosphical stance that medical ethics in War cannot be the same as medical ethics in Peace Time….HUH?

Instead of pulling a Cheney and going to a highly secured, undisclosed location while he orders federal authorities to apprehend those within the corporate oligarchy that threatened his and his family’s lives, he sees and bright future at a salary of 2 million per year, and appreciates the reassurance he likely recieved from the same people, that he should just enjoy the perks and prestige of his position for the next 4 to 8 years, and when this comes to an end, he will easily be able to afford property in Dubai, and can safely move his family there, while the Republicans complete what was rudely interrupted in 2008.

I could be wrong, but why would someone that campaigned so hard about transparency, accountability, ethics, reform and returning the the power to We the People change his tune so drastically once he gets the guaranteed pension and healthcare and life long Secret Service protection that US presidents get?

I think I will apply for a job with the Secret Service, and maybe I can get the Dubai assignment by the time the next Republican administration declares martial law and institutes a police state in our nation.

Remember, even if the Employee Free Choice Act would happen to pass, it would require the Executive to enforce it. We saw how much discrimination and labor laws, not to mention constitutional rights, were enforced under the Bush regime.

Obama is our last chance to save our democracy, but his actions suggest he is only thinking of himself.

I heard somebody say this morning that the last president who crossed the CIA was JFK and look what that got him and that President Obama was given that message.

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This is the bottom line and the reason, I believe, he will not even attempt to prosecute any of the Bush Cabal. The CIA/Bushies won’t hesitate to knock him off.

I’m a little confused about the CIA and Bush Administration’s position on the release of these documents. If they are so certain that they did nothing wrong, then why did they work so hard to prevent disclosure? They should have the courage of their convictions and proudly declare: “We did it, we’re glad we did it, and we would do it all again.”

Unless, of course, they don’t actually believe that their actions were legal and ethical…

Certainly there was nothing in these documents that was not already generally known. The details of the graphic nature of the techniques, as well as the legal arguments to defend their use, was the primary revelation. The whole “jeopardizing national security” tact is a stale, overused argument left over from the Bush regime.

So should the torture program planners and participants be investigated and possibly prosecuted? Tough call.

In a perfect world, the answer would be a definitive YES.
However, given the state of the economy, Obama feels that he has bigger fish to fry at this time, and he doesn’t want to jeopardize his programs on the economic recovery by offending too many people in Congress with an investigation of the CIA and Bush Administration at this time. In addition, many of the key players are still active in the CIA, and pursuing an investigation of those who conducted the questionable interrogations would undoubtedly result in damaging the morale of this agency.

However, the door has been left open to investigate those responsible for creating the torture policies, and I have a feeling that these individuals may well be under the scrutiny of an independent investigator appointed by the Obama Administration once his economic programs have been approved by Congress.

All involved must be held accountable, and no reasonable, educated person could have believed that these acts were lawful.

According to the novel, unorthodox legal theories of Obama and Holder (nearly as perverse as those of Bybee, Yoo, Gonzales and Haynes), Lynndie England and Charles Graner are owed an immediate pardon.

No. There has to be a line that civilized people DO NOT CROSS.

The War Crimes Act of 1996, a federal statute set forth at 18 U.S.C. § 2441, makes it a federal crime for any U.S. national, whether military or civilian, to violate the Geneva Convention by engaging in murder, torture, or inhuman treatment.

The statute applies not only to those who carry out the acts, but also to those who ORDER IT, know about it, or fail to take steps to stop it. The statute applies to everyone, no matter how high and mighty.

18 U.S.C. § 2441 has no statute of limitations, which means that a war crimes complaint can be filed at any time.

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Hey, it’s Friday, and I am a barfly, after all.

Happy weekend, all.

Correct me if I’m wrong (and as we know, I frequently am), but wouldn’t these agents by this time be well versed in historical precedent regarding the practice, being that torture for them is a two way street, and they themselves might have to one day rely upon the very statutes they found so quaint and violated, for their own selfish interests?

Bilbo:

What they are asking you to do is repugnant to you, but what choices do you have? You can quit and give up a 20 year career and your health benefits and probably end up blacklisted and find it hard to find other employment, or you can do what you are ordered to do.

Have any of the agents who resigned feeling any career-damaging blowback? Or are they getting rich writing “inside baseball”, as it were ?

Yes, because there were some in the CIA who resigned specifically over the issue, and that would mean there was uncertainty within the agency about the lawfulness of these techniques. If I’m tasked with this duty, and learn that other CIA personnel have resigned because of it, I would be a fool to accept my boss’s assurances. There is a point where common sense must come into play, and these highly trained and whip-smart agents should have known from past precedent, and their own common sense, that what they were doing was both wrong and illegal, regardless of what a politically motivated higher-up might try to assert.

Anyone with a brain knows that torture is illegal. Following an illegal order is still an illegal act.
So, yes, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Just like we prosecuted German soldiers for the War Crimes they did when “following orders”. Just like we have prosecuted our own soldiers when following illegal orders.

I find your excusing Obama in this issue very disturbing, Bilbo. It reminds me of the wingnuts defending the wrongs of the Bush administration.

Wrong is just wrong.